


For You I'll Be Super Human

by MochaCappuccino



Series: Save Your Heart Tonight [1]
Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, M/M, gleevengers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-25
Updated: 2014-06-25
Packaged: 2018-02-06 05:52:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1846819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MochaCappuccino/pseuds/MochaCappuccino
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kurt Rogers is struggling to figure out who he is and adjust to life 70 years in the future, where the world is an entirely different place with a different mindset.  </p><p>Blaine Stark is struggling with the fact that the man he spent his childhood both idolizing and wanting is now standing in front of him, gorgeous as ever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	For You I'll Be Super Human

**Author's Note:**

> This was previously posted as a ten-chapter story way back when I first posted everything. This is a revamped version with some character changes and a bit of plot changes to accommodate for my planned sequel and general canon shifts. :) A full character list is at the end of the story if you'd like to see it before you read.

Kurt pounded the bag in front of him, losing himself in thought. He could fool everyone else with how well he'd adapted to the change in time period, but it was tearing him up inside. When it came to this, to boxing and fighting with all of his heart, he could almost forget for a moment.

He was almost able to let go of the memories of just what he'd left behind. Memories still flashed through his mind on occasion, reminding him of Santana, of Finn, and of _him_.

From the moment he'd met Santana on his first day of boot camp, he'd found her obnoxious yet endearing. They had grown close incredibly fast and Kurt found himself revealing to her his deepest secret. She'd not only been accepting of it but had revealed a similar secret of her own.

Her secret's name was Brittany and Santana always carried a picture of her tucked inside her uniform. Kurt hadn't found anyone else like him to his knowledge, though he had found it hard to keep his eyes off of a certain gorgeous brunette genius whom he'd recently met.

He'd never been in love with him back then, but that didn't stop him from wanting anyway. It was so wrong, so unacceptable and Kurt never would have admitted to it, but he still wormed his way into Kurt's dreams on a few occasions.

Santana had suggested a pact to keep everyone from being suspicious and the two planned to marry after the war as a cover for each other. Kurt had looked her up to see what had become of her and found that she'd never ended up marrying.

Kurt planned to track her down and ask what became of her and her beloved Brittany, just as soon as he got a break from SHIELD duties. He told himself that they'd never let their love fail them, but he was worried that they hadn’t had a happy ending.

He hated the world, hated it for not letting him be honest about who he was. He was barely honest with himself about it.

He got angrier the more he thought about it until suddenly the bag he was pounding flew off. He moved to grab another one as a voice cut through his thoughts.

"Trouble sleeping?" Nick Fury stepped into the room, a file in his hands.

"I slept for 70 years, sir. I think I've had my fill."

"Then you should be out, celebrating, seeing the world."

"I went under, the world was at war. I wake up, they say we won. They didn't say what we lost." Kurt moved to unwrap the tape from his hands.

"We've made some mistakes along the way. Some very recently."

"You here with a mission, sir?"

"I am."

"Trying to get me back in the world?"

"Trying to save it." Fury handed over the file and Kurt flipped through it for a moment.

"Hydra's secret weapon."

"Nick Stark fished that out of the ocean when looking for you. He thought what we think. The Tesseract could be the key to unlimited sustainable energy. That's something the world sorely needs."

"Who took it from you?" Kurt handed the file back, disgusted at the memories of the damage the Tesseract caused.

"He's called Loki. He's," Fury paused, "not from around here. There's a lot we'll have to bring you up to speed on if you're in. The world has gotten even stranger than you already know."

"At this point, I doubt anything would surprise me." Kurt picked up his things and moved towards the exit.

"Ten bucks says you're wrong. There's a debriefing packet waiting for you back at your apartment. Is there anything you can tell us about the Tesseract that we ought to know now?"

"You should've left it in the ocean." Kurt called over his shoulder as he walked out.

He made the short walk back to his apartment while fighting back thoughts of what he'd lost. He was proud of his country for winning the war, but his mind struggled to adapt. To find out that the Tesseract was back scared him.

Inside his apartment, he grabbed the debriefing packet and flopped down on the couch with a glass of water to go over it. He expected to find boring graphs and charts and a lot of nonsense about what S.H.I.E.L.D. planned to do to get the cube back that wouldn't actually work.

He did not expect to find a picture of the most gorgeous man he'd ever seen. He bore a resemblance to Kurt's old crush back in the 40's, to the genius man who'd done so much to help and been so sweet.

Kurt shook his head for a moment and read a little further, his eyes catching on the name.

_Blaine Stark._

Part of him felt it had to be a coincidence, but he knew it couldn't possibly be. He'd heard Fury mention Blaine, mention Stark, and mention Iron Man, but he'd never mentioned them to all be one in the same.

* * *

Blaine slowly cut open the metal pipe before fitting the arc reactor properly onto it. It took immediately and lit up. He let himself back away a bit before shooting out of the water and heading back towards the city.

"You're good to go on this end. The rest is up to you."

"You disconnected the transition lines? Are we off the grid?" Rachel’s voice came through the headset.

"Stark Tower is about to become a beacon of self-sustaining clean energy." Blaine couldn't help but preen excitedly.

"Well, assuming the arc reactor takes over and it actually works?"

"I assume. Light her up."

Blaine watched with a huge grin as the tower lit up in front of him.

"How does it look?" Rachel asked.

"Like Christmas, but with more..." Blaine trailed off with a smirk. "Me."

"We've got to go wider on the public awareness campaign. You need to do some press. I'm in DC tomorrow. I'm working on the zoning for the next three buildings." Blaine could hear Rachel clicking away at something.

"Rachel, you're killing me. The moment. Remember? Enjoy the moment."

"Give me a raise and I will." She replied in a snarky tone.

"Sir, Agent Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D. is on the line." Jarvis came over the headset.

"I'm not in. I'm actually out."

"Sir, I'm afraid he's insisting."

"Tomorrow's fine, Jarvis. I've got a date with my favorite assistant."

"Levels are holding steady, I think." Rachel commented as Blaine walked in.

"Of course they are, I was directly involved, which brings me to my next question. How does it feel to be a genius?"

"Well, ha, I really wouldn't know now, would I?" Rachel started towards the couch and the bottle of champagne she'd set out.

"What do you mean? All this came from you."

"No. All this came from that." Rachel tapped the circle of light just visible through his shirt.

"Give yourself some credit, please. Stark Tower is your baby. Give yourself twelve percent of the credit." Blaine offered as he followed her.

"Twelve percent?" Rachel lifted her eyebrows, full blown pout at the ready.

"An argument can be made for fifteen." Blaine shrugged with a grin.

"Twelve percent of my baby?"

"Well, I did do all the heavy lifting. Literally, I lifted the heavy things. And sorry, but the security snafu? That was on you."

"Ohhhhh." Rachel nodded with an eye roll.

"My private elevator-"

"You mean our elevator?" Rachel interrupted.

"It was teeming with sweaty workmen."

"Like you minded." Rachel pointed out with a snort.

"I'm going to pay for that comment about percentages later, aren't I?" Rachel gave him a look that answered his own question. "I'll tell you what. Next building's gonna be a theater and it’ll say ‘Berry’ on the side."

"On the lease." Rachel corrected.

"Call Sugar; can you bunk over?" Blaine made a face at her, teasing before taking a sip from his glass.

"Sir, the telephone. I'm afraid my protocols are being overwritten." Jarvis interrupted their playful banter. Rachel had been Blaine's best friend and assistant for years and they were constantly teased about being like an old married couple, even though it was public knowledge that Blaine was gay.

"Mr. Stark, we need to talk." Agent Coulson's voice spoke up.

"You've reached the live model decoy of Blaine Stark. Leave a message." Blaine picked up the video phone as he spoke.

"This is urgent." Coulson argued.

"Then leave it urgently." Just as the words finished coming out of Blaine's mouth, the elevator door opened. "Security breach. It's on you." He glared at Rachel.

"Mr. Stark?"

"Phil? Come in." Rachel stood up and walked over to the elevator.

"Phil?" Blaine asked in confusion, the words feeling strange in his mouth.

"I can't stay." Coulson assured him.

"His first name is 'Agent.'" Blaine pointed at him from behind Rachel.

"Come on in. We're celebrating."

"Which is why he can't stay." Blaine argued with a pout.

"We need you to look this over as soon as possible." Coulson held out a computer to Blaine.

"I don't like things being handed to me." Blaine frowned with a glance at Rachel.

"That's fine, because I love being handed things. So, let's trade?" Rachel traded her glass of champagne for the computer before trading it to Tony for his glass.

"Official consulting hours are between eight and five every other Thursday." Blaine frowned and started to back away.

"This isn't a consultation."

"Is this about the Avengers? Which I know nothing about." Rachel asked, attempting to save herself and failing miserably.

"The Avengers Initiative was scrapped, I thought. And I didn't even qualify." Blaine pointed out.

"I didn't know that either." Rachel assured Coulson.

"Yeah, apparently I'm volatile, self-obsessed, don't play well with others." Blaine listed off as he set off the computer.

"That I did know." Rachel winked at Coulson with a grin.

"This isn't about personality profiles anymore."

"Whatever. Ms. Berry? Got a second?" Blaine waited for Rachel to walk over. "You know, I thought we were having a best friends moment."

"I was having twelve percent of a moment." Rachel snorted. "This seems serious. Phil's pretty shaken."

"How would you know this? Why is he Phil?"

"What is all this?"

"This is, uh, this." Blaine swiped the screen so that everything projected around them.

Rachel watched with a grin as Blaine's eyes focused on the picture of one man. She knew that smile and she knew what a crush Blaine had always had growing up on Captain America. His father had often talked about what a wonderful man he'd been, how courageous and strong and loyal.

Blaine had heard that he'd been found and was being adjusted back to society, but the images were like a blast from his childhood. He always attributed his first realization that he was gay to the man on the screen in front of him.

Rachel took in the way the Blaine pushed other things away on the projection and made the video of Kurt pounding on a punching bag bigger. When Blaine had struggled growing up with his relationship with his parents and with being gay, he'd seen videos of Captain America boxing and had taken it up himself.

"I'm going to take the jet to DC tonight." Rachel said quietly.

"Tomorrow." Blaine shook his head. He’d planned to go to a show with Rachel that night.

"You have," Rachel paused before saying in a teasing tone, "homework. You have a lot of homework." She turned to head out of the room. "Don't touch my good lotion, particularly not for that." She called over her shoulder as she walked to the elevator with Agent Coulson.

Blaine stood there for a long time, staring at the images in front of him.

_Kurt Rogers._

* * *

"We're about 40 minutes out from home base, Sir." The pilot turned his head to call to Agent Coulson. Coulson turned and crossed the small area of the Quinjet so that he was standing in front of Kurt while Kurt looked at the tablet in his lap.

Kurt tried to focus on the video and the information, but he couldn't stop the thoughts that had been running through his head since the day before when he'd met with Fury. He hadn't let himself think much about his sexuality since waking up, just as he hadn't let himself dwell on it before.

It wasn't acceptable during the war, particularly for someone in as big of a position as Kurt. Sure, there were people who snuck around and did it anyways, but Kurt had never let himself act on it. He'd had his suspicions of some people, but it was too taboo of a subject to discuss with other people.

It was more acceptable in the world he woke up in, but still not fully accepted and he was unsure what he should do. Even if it was generally accepted in the world, Kurt had been raised in the Christian church and knew it was against the Bible, so he knew he would be met with resistance, his own atheism aside. He wanted to find someone else who was gay, someone he could discuss his concerns and issues with, but he didn't know how to go about finding out who was or wasn't. He wasn't even sure he was ready to admit his sexuality to anyone else even if he did find someone.

Agent Coulson was staring at him expectantly, so he snapped back to attention, focusing on the screen.

"So, this Doctor Banner was trying to replicate the serum that was used on me?" Kurt asked as he watched the video.

"A lot of people were." Coulson confirmed. "You were the world's first superhero. Banner thought gamma radiation might hold the key to unlocking Erskine's original formula."

"Didn't really go his way, did it?"

"Not so much. When he's not that thing though, guy's like a Stephen Hawking, chair included." Kurt looked at Coulson in confusion, not understanding the name. "He's like a smart person. I gotta say, it's an honor to meet you, officially." Kurt smiled at Coulson as he spoke. "I sort of met you. I mean, I watched you while you were sleeping."

Kurt gave Coulson an amused look at how flustered he was before standing up and walking towards the front of the Quinjet.

"I mean, I was- I was present while you were unconscious from the ice. You know, it's really, it's just a, just a huge honor to have you on board." Coulson fumbled over his words slightly as he followed behind Kurt.

"Well, I hope I'm the man for the job." Kurt smiled with a nod, trying to gauge how to react to Coulson's hero-worship.

"Oh, you are. Absolutely. Uh, we've made some modifications to the uniform. I had a little design input."

"The uniform? Aren't the stars and stripes a little," Kurt paused to find the word and keeping his opinions on other people having an input over the look of his uniform to himself, "old fashioned?"

"Everything that's happening, the things that are about to come to light, people might just need a little old fashioned."

Coulson moved up to talk to the pilot again and Kurt let himself fall back into his seat. 'Old fashioned' rang in Kurt's head. Coulson thought people needed 'old fashioned.' Being gay certainly did not qualify.

Without a second thought, he decided to keep his sexuality a secret, at least until the people didn't need a hero anymore.

He didn't let himself dwell on the fact that people would always need a hero.

* * *

"Agent Romanoff, Captain Rogers." Coulson introduced Kurt to a beautiful blonde girl who was wearing a smirk.

"Ma'am." Kurt nodded at her.

"Hi." She acknowledged Kurt before turning to Coulson. "They need you on the bridge. They're starting the face trace."

"See you there." Coulson walked away in the direction of the door.

"It was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice. I thought Coulson was gonna swoon. Did he ask you to sign his captain America trading cards yet?" Quinn's voice had a slightly teasing tone to it that Kurt could pick up.

"Trading cards?" Kurt looked puzzled with her.

"They're vintage. He's very proud." She walked them towards another man who was facing the other direction. He turned his wheelchair as they neared him.

"Dr. Banner." Kurt greeted with a nod. Even though Kurt knew that the accident with the Gamma rays had left Dr. Banner in a wheelchair while he wasn't the Hulk, it was still strange for Kurt to try to match the man in the wheelchair in front of him with the giant green monster that could walk and crush everything in its path perfectly fine.

"Uh, yeah, hi. They told me you'd be coming." Artie held his hand out to Kurt.

"Word is you can find the cube."

"Is that the only word on me?" Artie asked, the nervousness obvious in his voice.

"Only word I care about." Kurt assured him.

"Must be strange for you, all of this." Artie gestured around them.

"Well, this is actually kind of familiar." Kurt shrugged, having been around war and planes and ships for quite some time before he fell asleep.

"Gentlemen, you might want to step inside in a minute. It's going to get a little hard to breathe." Quinn interrupted with a grin.

Kurt and Artie moved closer to the edge for a moment as loud whirring noises came from over the edge of the boat.

"Is this a submarine?" Kurt asked incredulously.

"Really? They want me submerged in a pressurized metal container?" Artie turned to give Quinn a look. He turned back just as the Helicarrier started to lift out of the water. "Oh, no, this is MUCH worse!"

Artie wheeled quickly towards the door, but Quinn and Kurt walked a bit slower.

"So, Black Widow, right?" Kurt asked, not sure of the proper way to go about asking.

"Yeah." She nodded.

"How is working for S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Kurt tried awkwardly to make small talk.

"I really enjoy it. Puck and I, we-" She paused, frowning. "We work really well together."

Kurt wanted to talk to her about Puck. He knew of her partner, Hawkeye, and assumed Puck was the same person. She sounded sad and he wanted to ask her about it, to find out if there was more underneath the surface, but before he got the chance, they were inside.

* * *

On the bridge, Kurt watched in awe as the Helicarrier leveled off in the sky and activated reflective shields. As he walked by Fury, he slid a ten dollar bill from his pocket and held it up to him, silently paying him off for their bet.

Kurt zoned out as Artie spoke in what sounded like a foreign language about the Tesseract and how they should go about finding it. He took the time instead to look around the bridge. There were computers everywhere and more buttons than he could ever imagine had a purpose.

"Captain, you're up." Fury's voice interrupted his thoughts and he nodded.

"I'm surprised that Blaine isn't here yet." Quinn commented as they started towards the deck to get in the Quinjet.

"What's he like?" Kurt couldn't help but ask.

"Stark? He's," she paused as she tried to find the proper words, "Blaine. That's pretty much the only way to describe him. He's just something else, you know?"

"I knew his father." Kurt said softly, an edge of sadness evident in his voice.

"He was a great man." Quinn smiled as she sat down. "Listen, Blaine's, well, a little rough around the edges. You'll see what I mean. But, he means well and he really is a great man. He can just be frustrating sometimes.”

* * *

Blaine couldn't help the way his mind drifted to Kurt as he got close to Stuttgart. He knew that Kurt had gone ahead with Quinn and he'd been told he wasn't needed, but he couldn't help wanting to go along.

While he didn't like being left out of things, the real reason Blaine had wanted to go was so he could have a chance to see Kurt in action in person. He wanted to see if he was truly as beautiful and as powerful as he looked in the pictures and videos.

He had Jarvis hack into the Quinjet's PA system and then played AC/DC's Shoot to Thrill for the whole group to hear, smiling to himself.

"Agent Romanoff, you miss me?" Blaine threw in the comment, hoping to impress Kurt with his entrance.

As he swooped in, Blaine shot his repulsors at Loki, knocking him back. Loki crumpled to the ground as Blaine landed and brandished his weapons.

"Make a move, reindeer games." Blaine threatened Loki as Kurt came running up next to him. He tried not to let himself be distracted by the gorgeous man next to him, dressed in his full Captain America suit. He could stare later when they were on their way back. Loki held his hands up in surrender and took his armor off. "Good move." Blaine pulled his weapons back into his suit.

"Mr. Stark." Kurt acknowledged Blaine, his voice carefully emotionless.

"Captain."

* * *

Kurt toyed with the mask in his hands as he nervously switched between glaring at Loki and staring at the floor, trying desperately not to let himself look at Blaine. He fought himself for several long minutes before finally chancing a glance up only to find Blaine staring unabashedly at him. Kurt jumped slightly in surprise and expected Blaine to quickly look away, but he just grinned.

Kurt's eyes narrowed questioningly and Blaine shrugged in response. Deciding to change the unspoken subject, Kurt turned to look at Loki again.

"I don't like it."

"What? Rock of Ages giving up so easily?" Blaine cocked his head as his eyes swept over the man sitting a few feet away.

"I don't remember it being ever that easy. This guy packs a wallop." Kurt dropped his voice, even though he knew Loki would hear him either way.

"Still, you are pretty spry, for an older fellow." Blaine took a moment to let his eyes rove Kurt's body hungrily. "What's your thing? Pilates?"

"What?" Kurt gave Blaine a blank look.

"It's like calisthenics. You might have missed a couple things, you know, doing time as a Capsicle."

"Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in." Kurt changed the subject again, frustrated with Blaine. He seemed arrogant and obnoxious already in the small amount of time he'd been around him, but Kurt tried to remember what Quinn had said.

"Yeah, there's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you." Lightning shocked the both of them out of their conversation and they looked around.

"Where's this coming from?" Quinn asked. Kurt noticed Loki looking a little worried.

"What's the matter, scared of a little lightning?" Kurt questioned incredulously.

"I'm not overly fond of what follows." Loki admitted.

A moment later, they all jumped again when a loud thud resounded through the Quinjet, as if something had fallen on the roof. Blaine covered his face in his helmet again and hit the button to open the door.

"What are you doing?" Kurt called out, trying to keep the worry out of his voice. Blaine didn't respond, and just as he was about to fly out, a man with shaggy blond hair and a giant hammer landed on the ramp. Kurt figured this must be Thor and watched as he knocked Blaine back.

Kurt held out a hand to help Blaine up and they watched as Thor grabbed Loki and flew away, using his hammer for propulsion.

"Ugh, and now there's that guy." Blaine groaned and even in the short amount of time Kurt's known him, he can tell that Blaine is rolling his eyes under his helmet.

"Another Asguardian?" Quinn called from the pilot's seat.

"Think that guy's friendly?" Kurt asked Blaine.

"Doesn't matter. If he frees Loki or kills him, the tesseract's lost." Blaine moved back towards the door again as he spoke.

"Stark, we need a plan of attack!" Kurt couldn't help himself from trying to keep Blaine safe, chalking it up to his need to protect everyone and not to Blaine in particular.

"I have a plan: attack!" Blaine jumped out and soared after Thor. Kurt immediately turned and grabbed a parachute.

"I'd sit this one out, Cap." Quinn told him disapprovingly.

"I don't see how I can." Kurt admitted as he strapped himself in.

"These guys come from legend. They're basically gods."

"I don't believe in God, ma'am, and I'm pretty sure if he's real, he doesn't dress like that." Kurt finished doing the straps and jumped out after Blaine.

* * *

Blaine was a little worried what would happen to him when he found Thor, but he at least let himself be reassured that Kurt was still safe in the Quinjet. He didn't know what Thor was capable of and he couldn't see Kurt hurt.

He locked in on where Thor and Loki had landed and aimed straight for Thor, knocking him from his perch to the ground below.

"Do not touch me again!" Thor stood angrily.

"Then don't take my stuff."

"You have no idea what you are dealing with." Thor's voice had a hint of desperation, but Blaine's wasn't about to give up.

"Uh, Shakespeare in the Park? Doth mother know you weareth her drapes?" Blaine teased.

"This is beyond you, metal man. Loki will face Asgardian justice." Thor argued, but Blaine wasn't going to give up his ground.

"He gives up the Cube, he's all yours. Until then," Blaine closed his mask, "stay out of the way." Blaine turned away before adding, "tourist."

Blaine had only taken a few steps when he heard Thor grunt and turned back just in time to have Thor's hammer slam him back to the ground.

"Okay." Blaine tilted his head slightly as he stood back up. He watched in surprise as Thor's hammer flew back to his hand and caught the smirk shared between the two brothers. Thor spun his hammer and Blaine launched himself at Thor. He managed to knock him down but within moments, Thor had his hammer back again and used it to call lightning down. He shot the lightning at Blaine, but his suit absorbed.

"Power at four-hundred percent capacity." Jarvis informed him.

"How about that?" Blaine chuckled as he turned back to Thor.

The next few minutes are a blur of punches and slams with a brief pause to headbutt each other. When a shield hit them both, they were surprised out of their violent stupor.

"Hey! That's enough!" Kurt stood nearby, looking at them both disapprovingly. He turned to Thor before speaking again. "Now, I don't know what you plan on doing here."

"I've come here to put an end to Loki's schemes!" Thor interrupted.

"Then prove it! Put the hammer down." As Kurt spoke, Blaine moved over to stand next to Kurt, desperate to be close to him so he could protect him.

"Um, yeah, no! Bad call! He loves his hammer!" Blaine's voice had a warning tone as he spoke.

"You want me to put the hammer down?" Thor looked at Kurt questioningly, his voice taunting.

Thor raised the hammer and Kurt immediately stepped in front of Blaine and held his shield up. In a perfect case of an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object, the lightning was left with no place to go but out.

When the three of them looked around, they had decimated a good portion of the forest.

"Are we done here?"

* * *

"Well, let me know if real power wants a magazine or something." The group was gathered around the monitors as Fury turned away from Loki.

"He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Artie commented with a grin.

"Loki's gonna drag this out. So, Thor, what's his play?" Kurt looked to Thor questioningly.

"He has an army, called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard nor of any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the Earth. In return, I suspect, for the Tesseract."

"An army. From outer space." Kurt summarized in disbelief.

"So he's building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for." Artie nodded.

"Selvig?"

"He's an astrophysicist." Artie explained.

"He's a friend." Thor responded, his eyes looking distant.

"Loki has them under some kind of spell. Along with one of ours." Quinn shifted uncomfortably at the mention of Puck.

"I wanna know why Loki let us take him. He's not leading an army from here." Kurt mused.

"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy's brain is a bag full of cats. You can smell crazy on him." Everyone nodded in response to Artie except for Thor.

"Have a care how you speak! Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard and he is my brother!"

"He killed eighty people in two days." Quinn pointed out, her arms crossed.

"He's adopted." There was an awkward beat before the conversation continued.

"I think it's about the mechanics. Iridium. What do they need the Iridium for?" Artie slowly moved his wheelchair as he spoke.

"It's a stabilizing agent." Blaine's voice interrupted their conversation. He continued to walk alongside Agent Coulson. "So, I'm just saying, pick a weekend. I'll fly you to Portland, keep love alive." He turned to the group as he got closer. "It means the portal won't collapse on itself like it did at Shield. No hard feelings, point break. You've got a mean swing." He paused to pat Thor's shoulder on his way to Fury's computers. "Also, it means the portal can open as wide and stay open as long as Loki wants. Uh, raise the mizzen mast, ship the top sails." Everyone gave him confused looks so he quickly pointed at one of the men nearby. "That man is playing Galaga! Thought we wouldn't notice. But we did." Covering one eye, he looked between the computer screens. "How does Fury even see these?

"He turns." Quinn answered but Blaine mostly ignored it.

"Sounds exhausting. The rest of the raw materials Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. The only major component he's still needs is a power source of high energy density, something to kick start the cube." As Blaine spoke, he tapped a few things to distract everyone from his actions when he planted a bug on the computer.

"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" With a roll of her eyes, Quinn moved towards the table.

"Last night. The packet. Selvig's notes. The extraction theory papers. Am I the only one that did the reading?" Blaine spoke with increasing frustration as the group gave him confused looks.

"Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?" Kurt attempted to help, hoping his complete and utter lack of knowledge on the subject wouldn't show too much.

"He'd have to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier." Artie tapped a pen against his hands as he spoke.

"Unless, Selvig has figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunnelling effect."

"Well, if he could do that he could achieve Heavy Ion Fusion at any reactor on the planet."

"Finally, someone who speaks English." Blaine grinned at Artie as they bantered.

"Is that what just happened?" Kurt snorted.

"It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner." Blaine held out his hand to Artie. "Your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster."

"Thanks." Artie responded dryly.

"Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube. I was hoping you might join him." Fury entered the room, his eyes trained on Blaine.

"I'd start with that stick of his. It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a Hydra weapon." Kurt suggested.

"I don't know about that, but it is powered by the cube." Kurt couldn't help but roll his eyes. "And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."

"Monkeys? I do not understand." Thor answered slowly.

"I do!" With enthusiasm, Kurt answered. Blaine blinked slowly at him as he preened under the knowledge that he knew what Fury was referring to. "I understood that reference."

"Shall we play, Doctor?" Blaine turned to Artie, but his eyes stayed trained on Kurt's figure. If it was anyone else, he wouldn't have bothered holding his tongue and would ask Kurt if he wanted to play doctor too, but something about Kurt made him want to be a little more respectful.

"This way." Artie interrupted his stupor as he wheeled away towards the lab.

The man playing Galaga opened his window again and Kurt chuckled as he watched before standing up to leave the bridge.

* * *

"Hey! Are you nuts?" Kurt interrupted Blaine's discussion with Artie when he noticed the quick prod to Artie's side as Blaine tried to upset him.

"Jury's out." Blaine shrugged teasingly, his eyes glinting at the sight of Kurt before turning to Artie again. "You really have got a lid on it, haven't you? What's your secret? Mellow jazz? Bongo drums? Huge bag of weed?"

"Is everything a joke to you?" Kurt asked with an annoyed tone.

"Funny things are."

"Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny. No offense, Doctor." With a glance at Artie, Kurt added the last bit.

"Yeah, i-it's alright. I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things." Artie adjusted his glasses before turning back to his work.

"You're tiptoeing, big man. You need to strut." Brandishing the screwdriver, Blaine took a few steps backwards.

"And you need to focus on the problem, Mr. Stark." Kurt shot back.

"You think I'm not? Why did Fury call us in? Why now? Why not before? What isn't he telling us? I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables."

"You think Fury's hiding something?"

"He's a spy. Captain, he's THE spy. His secrets have secrets." Blaine stepped towards Kurt as he spoke and popped a blueberry into Kurt's mouth with a flirty wink before gesturing to Artie. "It's bugging him too, isn't it?"

"Uhhhh, mmm, I just want to finish my work here and-" Artie shook his head.

"Doctor?"

"A warm light for all mankind. Loki's jab at Fury about the cube."

"I heard it." Kurt nodded.

"Well, I think that was meant for you." Artie pointed at Blaine who nodded and offered him the bag of blueberries. "Even if Barton didn't tell Loki about the tower, it was still all over the news."

"The Stark tower? That big ugly building in New York?" Kurt clarified. Blaine gave him a playfully offended look but Kurt didn't back down.

"It's powered by an arc reactor. Self sustaining energy source. That building will run itself for what, a year?"

"That's just the prototype. I'm kind of the only name in clean energy right now. That's what he's getting at."

"So, why didn't SHIELD bring him in on the Tesseract project? I mean, what are they doing in the energy business in the first place?"

"I should probably look into that once my decryption program finishes breaking into all of SHIELD's secure files." Blaine nodded.

"I'm sorry, did you say-?"

"Jarvis has been running it since I hit the bridge. In a few hours, I'll know every dirty secret SHIELD has ever tried to hide. Blueberry?" Blaine held another one in front of Kurt's lips and Kurt reluctantly took it, letting his lips linger around Blaine's fingers for a moment longer than necessary before coming back to his senses.

"Yet you're confused about why they didn't want you around?"

"An intelligence agency that fears intelligence? Historically, not awesome."

"I think Loki's trying to wind us up. This is a man who means to start a war and if we don't stay focused, he'll succeed. We have orders, we should follow them."

"Following's not really my style."

"And you're all about style, aren't you?"

"Of the people in this room, which one is A - wearing a spangly outfit and B - not a fuse? Though I will admit, that outfit does do wonders for your ass. Turn around for me real quick?"

"Kurt, you're telling me none of this smells a little funky to you?" Artie interrupted their banter with an eye roll.

"Just find the cube." Kurt demanded before stomping from the room.

"That's the guy my dad never shut up about? I'm wondering if they shouldn't have kept him on ice."

"You and I both know you don't believe that." Artie gave Blaine a tired look.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Blaine looked away and fiddled absentmindedly with something on the screen. "So, you'll be suiting up with the rest of us soon."

"No, no. You don't get to change the subject." Artie shook his head. "What's going on between you and Kurt? I see the looks you give him. I'm sure it isn't my place. I mean, hell, I barely know either of you."

"Nothing's going on between us. He was just a friend of my dad's." Blaine shrugged.

"I've of course heard the stories about you, but is he-?"

"No idea. I asked Dad one time when I was younger, but he said that he didn't think he was. He was rumored to be with a woman named Santana. Papa always teased Dad for having a crush on him when they knew each other, though." Blaine smiled fondly as he remembered his fathers ribbing each other good naturedly about it.

"I really wish I could've met them. Your father has such an amazing legacy."

"Yeah, I know."

They fell into a comfortable silence for a few minutes before Artie broke it.

"Seriously though, your crush on him is obvious and if I had to put money on it, it isn't one sided."

"I'll keep that in mind."

* * *

"I see him in you."

Kurt's voice caused Blaine to jump. He was sitting on the floor and staring blankly at a tablet screen in front of him. Blaine scrambled to hide the screen from Kurt's view as Kurt sat next to him and handed a beer over before opening his own.

"Who?" Blaine asked, his eyes still trained on the screen.

"Your father. You have his intelligence, sure. You've also got his good looks, his smile." Blaine tore his eyes away to give Kurt a questioning look. "I can't help but envy the fact that he obviously found someone he loved very much. I always wished I could have that."

"I thought you and Santana...?" Blaine trailed off, remembering what his fathers had said.

"No, no." Kurt shook his head. "She is, well, was my best friend."

"She was a close friend of both of my dads and I always got the feeling that you and her were together."

"Wait." Kurt's head shot up. "Dads?" Blaine just nodded in response. "Huh."

"That's not a problem, is it?" Blaine couldn't help but worry that he'd read Kurt entirely wrong.

Kurt shook his head wordlessly.

"My dad never told you?"

"No." Kurt answered as though it were obvious. "It's not really an acceptable topic to talk about."

"Why not?"

"Because it's just not something you talk about; not unless you want to get yourself into a lot of trouble. It's not a very socially acceptable thing."

"Kurt, that may be how it was back then, but it's much more accepted now." Blaine tried to keep the hurt from showing on his face.

"But it's wrong." Kurt's voice shook along with his head and he took a long pull from his beer. He fought down his own feelings, remembering Coulson’s earlier comments about being old fashioned.

"So, you're saying there's something wrong with me?" Blaine stood angrily, his beer and tablet forgotten on the ground.

"Of course not."

"But there's something wrong with being gay."

"I'm not judging you for it, but it doesn't change the fact that it's wrong." Kurt wanted desperately to admit to his own truth, but stopped himself.

"For all of the wonderful things my father said about you, I never expected this out of you." Blaine turned and stomped away, leaving Kurt alone.

Kurt's eyes fell on the tablet that Blaine had left and he picked it up. The screen still showed the picture that Blaine had been staring at. It showed a teenaged Blaine sandwiched between two older men. One of them Kurt recognized as Nick. The other was a blond man Kurt didn't recognize. They all wore huge grins and Kurt couldn't help the pang of envy that shot through him.

* * *

"Santana was, um, like your dads." Kurt interrupted Blaine's thoughts once again, this time in Blaine's room. "There was this woman, Brittany. Santana’s still alive and after this is done, I want to find her again so I can ask her what ever became of her and Brittany."

"Brittany Pierce?" Blaine asked in confusion. At Kurt's shrug, he explained. "There was a blonde named Brittany that was very close to my family. Her and Santana always seemed close, even in their later years. I haven’t seem them in a long time, though."

"You knew them both?" Kurt said hopefully. "Maybe they stayed together after all. That would be wonderful."

"Thinking back on it, I think my dads probably knew that." Blaine admitted with a thought back on their interactions. He quickly got back his previous anger after a moment. "Can I help you with something?"

"I didn't mean to offend you. Believe me, I definitely don't have anything against anyone being gay. Not you and definitely not your father. Honestly, if it was a different time, if the world's mindset was different…" Kurt trailed off, his eyes fixed on his feet.

"You're sending me about a million different signals here." Blaine snapped impatiently, frustration and confusion getting the better of him. "Are you or aren't you?"

"You can't ask me that." Kurt answered simply.

"Like hell I can't." Blaine growled.

"I've only ever told one person the truth."

"I'm going to take that as a yes, but you need to be able to admit it out loud."

"I know you're scared, but no one is going to hurt you for it. No one will care." Blaine stood up and moved so he was standing right in front of Kurt.

"I can't." Kurt shook his head and fought back the sting of tears that threatened to fall.

"I know how hard it is. Just because my dads were gay and I knew they'd accept me for it didn't make it easier with anyone else, but I promise you I won't care and I won't let anyone else."

"Why are you being so nice to me?" Kurt tried to deflect the topic.

"You think I don't notice you? I do." Blaine glanced down to the small space between them and grasped Kurt's hand, daring to take a chance. "I'm not going to let this go. You need to be honest with yourself. Kurt-"

"Blaine, can you come to the lab?" Artie's voice crackled over their earpieces.

"It looks like my bug finished working." Blaine frowned as he pulled the phone from his pocket. "This isn't over." Blaine lifted Kurt's hand to brush his lips against Kurt's knuckles before walking out of the room, leaving Kurt behind in the dust of the emotional whirlwind.

* * *

Kurt decided to go search through the ship as soon as Blaine left. He wasn't ready to talk more about the situation yet and hoped if he found out what was going on, he could buy some time. From the small amount of time that he'd known Blaine, he could already tell he would be stubborn as hell.

He found several crates of weapons while he looked and grabbed a few to bring back to the lab.

"What is Phase 2?" Blaine was asking just as Kurt walked in carrying the gun he'd found.

"Phase two is S.H.I.E.L.D. uses the cube to make weapons. Sorry, the computer was a little slow for me." Kurt slammed the gun on the table with a glare at Fury.

"Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This does not mean-"

"Don't you talk down to him." Blaine interrupted just as Quinn and Thor walked into the room.

"Did you know about this?" Artie demanded with a glare at Quinn, who immediately suggested he should leave, causing the two to devolve into argument. Kurt tuned them out and chose instead to focus on Blaine who was eyeing the gun.

They both looked up when Fury blamed Thor for S.H.I.E.L.D.'s creation of weapons. After that, the arguments started anew with blame and threats flying around the room.

"Captain America is on threat watch?" Artie rolled his eyes at Quinn.

"You're on that list? Are you above or below angry bees?" Blaine moved over to stand by Kurt.

"I swear to God, Stark, one more crack..." Kurt growled, annoyed at the entire room.

"Threatening! I feel threatened!" Blaine teased, ignoring Kurt's protests. "This all is ridiculous, huh?" Blaine gestured at the arguing.

"You're not innocent in this fight either. You made your money creating weapons. Don't think I don't know that." Kurt crossed his arms in frustration.

"I don't anymore! We stopped that and I'm sure you know that. It was my father's business first but I bet you don't think ill of him." Blaine took another step closer and lowered his voice. "Cap, don't turn on me."

Kurt couldn't help but shiver at the way Blaine was looking at him and at the strangely soft way he referred to him as 'Cap.' Kurt nodded but just then, Blaine jumped back into the bigger argument.

"Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?" Blaine grinned with a wink at Artie and snuck an arm around Kurt's shoulder.

"You know damn well why." Kurt knocked Blaine's arm off. "Back off."

"Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me." Blaine grinned lasciviously and took a step closer.

"Yeah, big man in a suit of armor." Kurt couldn't help himself from throwing up his defenses and putting as much distance between himself and Blaine as possible. He glanced around nervously at the rest of the group, hoping they hadn't noticed how close Blaine had gotten. No one seemed to be looking at him in disgust, but he continued on for good measure. "Take that off and what are you?"

"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist." Blaine answered.

"I know guys with none of that worth ten of you. I've seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you." Kurt answered, unable to stop his first impressions after watching Iron Man fight from coming out.

"I think I would just cut the wire."

"Always a way out." Kurt couldn't help admiring Blaine for it and being envious of it. "You know, you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero."

"A hero? Like you?" Hurt flashed across Blaine's face and Kurt had to fight his knee-jerk reaction to comfort him. "You're a laboratory experiment, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle!" Blaine spat out, trying to put venom behind his words but unable to bring himself to it.

"Put on the suit. Let's go a few rounds." Kurt challenged, letting his emotions and stress take over. Any concerns about the others in the room evaporated as his anger levels skyrocketed.

"I'd rather take things off to go a few rounds with you." Blaine's flirting defense mechanism shot back up.

"You humans are so petty and tiny." Thor chuckled, interrupting their argument.

"Agent Romanoff, would you escort Dr. Banner back to his-" Fury started.

"Back where? You rented my room." Artie snapped.

"The cell was built-"

"In case you needed to kill me, but you can't! I know; I tried." Artie paused as everyone focused on him. "I got low. I didn't see an end and I was sick of this stupid chair that the other guy put me in, so I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out." Kurt hadn't even noticed Blaine grabbing his hand until he tightened his grip. He pulled his hand away as Artie continued. "So I moved on. I focused on helping other people. I was good, until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk!" Artie turned to Quinn. "You wanna know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You wanna know how I stay calm?"

"Doctor Banner, put down the scepter." Kurt said quietly just as the computer beeped.

"Got it." Blaine glanced at the computer screen.

"Sorry, kids. You don't get to see my little party trick after all."

Blaine turned to get his suit but Kurt gripped his arm to stop him.

"You're not going alone."

"You gonna stop me?" Blaine lifted an eyebrow curiously.

"Put on the suit, let's find out."

"I'm not afraid of you."

"Put on the suit."

"I'm not going to let you get hurt." Blaine admitted vulnerably.

Just then, an explosion ripped through the airship. Both boys grabbed each other and Kurt scrambled to cover Blaine's body with his own as they fell to the floor.

"Put on the suit." Kurt breathed as they took in the situation. Their faces were impossibly close and they shared a slow breath before Kurt snapped out of his trance and hopped up, pulling Blaine up with him.

Blaine sped out of the room and Kurt kept his hands against Blaine's waist as they moved. In the hall, Blaine grabbed Kurt's hand tightly as they ran towards where Blaine kept his suit.

"Engine three, I'll meet you there." Blaine stopped outside of the door to his suit. He squeezed Kurt's hand for a moment before pulling away. "Stay safe."

"You too. Please be careful." Kurt couldn't keep the desperation from his voice.

* * *

Kurt stepped out onto the ledge and had a shiver of panic as he noticed how close to the edge he was.

"Stark?" He called over the headset. "Blaine, I'm here."

"Good." Blaine soared up in his suit. He mumbled to himself as he assessed the damage and pulled a few pieces of debris out of the engine. "I need you to get to that engine control panel and tell me which relays are in overload positions."

Kurt propelled himself over to the other ledge and opened the panel. He stared at it in complete confusion for a few moments.

"What's it look like in there?" Blaine asked.

"It seems to run on some form of electricity!" Kurt answered with a sarcastic brightness to his voice.

"Well, you're not wrong." Blaine snorted. "Alright, I'll walk you through it."

Blaine explained what to look for and what to do and Kurt finally gave the affirmative that they were all intact.

"Even if I clear the rotors, this thing won't re-engage without a jump. I'm gonna have to get in there and push."

"Well, if that thing gets up to speed, you'll get shredded." Kurt's voice shook as he spoke.

"That standard control unit can reverse the polarity long enough to disengage maglev."

"Speak English." Kurt interrupted, the annoyance in his tone mixing with the worry.

"You see that red lever?" Blaine spoke slowly, as if to a child. "It'll slow the rotors down enough for me to get out. Stand by it and wait for my word."

Kurt nodded and leapt over to the panel. Blaine worked on clearing the last of the debris as Kurt watched nervously. Just as Blaine knocked out the last bit, a man came up behind Kurt and attempted to knock him down.

They scuffled for a moment before the man fell off of the edge, but he was shortly replaced by someone with a gun. He unleashed fire at Kurt, who dodged it by pressing against the wall. He grabbed the gun off of the floor and the two men traded fire for a few moments.

"Stark, we're losing altitude." Fury's voice came over the headset. The ship started to drop as Blaine finally started to push.

"Yep, noticed." Blaine answered shortly.

Kurt continued to fire at the other man, but lost his footing and slipped. He barely grabbed the nearby cord to save himself and climbed back up slowly.

"Cap, hit the lever."

"I need a minute here!" Kurt fought his hardest to climb back up the cord, scared that he wasn't climbing fast enough. He focused all of his strength on going as fast as possible.

"Lever. Now, baby." At the platform, the man was back with his gun reloaded. "Uh oh." Blaine dropped under the turbine and got caught in the blades.

Kurt stood up, ignoring the gunfire the best he could and grabbing the lever. As soon as he pulled it, he flattened out against the ground.

Blaine was able to drop through the bottom and he immediately shot towards where Kurt was dealing with the man with the gun. He knocked him down and grabbed the gun before rushing back to where Kurt was.

Kurt couldn't help throwing his arms around Blaine's neck as he neared, ignoring the cold feel of his suit. They stood there for a few long minutes before the crackle of the headset interrupted.

"Agent Coulson is down."

* * *

"These were in Phil Coulson's jacket." Fury tossed a handful of bloody cards onto the meeting table. "I guess he never did get you to sign them."

Kurt picked the closest one up and turned it over in his hand. A smiling depiction of Captain America greeted him. He stared blankly at the cards as Fury continued to speak about their lack of communications and the loss of Loki, Thor, and Dr. Banner.

"Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number though, because I was playing something even riskier." Fury walked around the table as he spoke, but Kurt kept his eyes fixed on the back of Blaine's head. Blaine was turned away, unable to look anyone in the eye. "There was an idea, Stark knows this, called The Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people, see if they could become something more, see if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles we never could."

Silence reigned in the room for a moment while Agent Hill, Kurt, and Blaine all exchanged glances.

"Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea, in heroes." Fury continued.

Blaine stood, unable to listen to the talk any longer. He walked away without another word.

"Well, it's an old-fashioned notion." Fury shrugged and moved over to stand next to Agent Hill.

Kurt stared at the door where Blaine had exited for a moment before making his decision and following after.

* * *

"Was he married?" Kurt asked as he stepped into the chamber where Coulson had fallen at Loki's hand. He leaned back against a piece of metal with his arms crossed.

"No, there was a cellist, I think." Blaine shook his head, his hands tucked in his pockets as he stared down.

"I'm sorry. He seemed like a good man." Kurt knew Blaine had known him much longer than he had.

"He was an idiot." Blaine spat bitterly.

"Why? For believing?"

"For taking on Loki alone."

"He was doing his job." Kurt took a few steps back to the walkway between their two platforms.

"He was out of his league. He should've waited. He should've-"

"Sometimes there isn't a way out." Kurt crossed over to where Blaine stood. "Blaine."

"Right, I've heard that before." Blaine bit his lip in an attempt to stop the tears.

"Is this the first time you've lost a soldier?" Kurt asked quietly.

"We are NOT soldiers! I am not marching to Fury's fife!" Blaine snapped angrily, the tears finally escaping.

"Neither am I! He's got the same blood on his hands that Loki does."

"I can't talk about this right now." Blaine shook his head. "We need to finish our earlier conversation, whenever you're ready."

"He told me the world needed old-fashioned." Kurt broke the comfortable silence that had surrounded them for a few minutes after Blaine had last spoken. "I figured, how could I admit to everything and still keep the old-fashioned image the world needed of me?"

"That's not what Cou- he meant. He'd never want you to keep who you are a secret." Blaine assured him. "He was always wonderful to me and never once was unsupportive of who I am."

"But he wasn't wrong." Kurt argued stubbornly.

"So, does this mean you're ready to admit it out loud?" Blaine pressed, taking a few steps closer to Kurt.

"Blaine." Kurt's voice came out slightly strangled.

"How about you just talk to me about what you feel and be honest and we'll see where it goes." Blaine offered.

"Okay." Nodding, Kurt took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "I feel overwhelmed at how different life is now versus what I'm used to. I feel exhausted keeping everything inside of me. I feel envious every time I see you because of your dad. Not because I envy that I didn't end up with him, but because I envy that he found someone that made him so happy while also being able to be honest with himself." He paused for a moment before continuing carefully. "I feel irrationally protective of you. I feel- I feel like I can't do this."

"Why not?" Blaine reached out to rest his hands on Kurt's waist.

"I can't let myself care about you." Kurt admitted, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Kurt, even though you may not have known me for long, I've known you. My long-standing crush on you aside, my dad never stopped talking about you. I heard endlessly of your strength, your heart, your compassion, your fearlessness."

"What do you want from me?"

"Just give me a chance." The pleading in Blaine's voice was obvious. "Please." Blaine pulled Kurt in closer, their lips only inches apart.

"I can't." Kurt broke a seemingly endless pause and pulled away.

"Damnit, Kurt. What's it going to take?"

"Not right now. Let's get all of this Loki stuff sorted out and then I promise we can talk about it again. I can't handle all of this right now."

"Alright, fine, but don't think I won't hold you to that." Blaine pressed a kiss to the palm of Kurt's hand before backing away.

"Right now we've got to put that behind us and get this done. Now, Loki needs a power source. If we could put together a list-"

"He made it personal." Blaine cut him off.

"That's not the point."

"That is the point. That's Loki's point. He hit us all right where we live. Why?"

"To tear us apart."

"He had to divide and conquer. Great, but he knows he has to take us out to win. That's what he wants. He wants to beat us. he wants to be seen doing it. He wants an audience." Blaine paced as he thought out loud.

"Right, I caught his act at Stuttgart."

"Yeah. That's just previews, this is opening night. And Loki. He's a full-tilt diva. He wants flowers, he wants parades, he wants a monument built in the skies with his name plastered-"

Kurt barely held back a snort as he watched the expression on Blaine's face as everything snapped together.

"Son of a bitch." Blaine turned and stomped from the room with a confused Kurt on his heels.

* * *

"We need a plan." Kurt grumbled as he followed behind Blaine, who was almost running back to his room.

"Kick Loki's ass, get everything back to normal, and have that talk." Blaine replied without stopping. "Preferably over dinner. I know this great little place in the Village. It’s tucked away and they’re cool about me going in there."

"Blaine." Kurt warned.

"They make the best Italian food. It's weird, I know. You'd think the best Italian food would be somewhere in Little Italy, right?"

"Blaine."

"I'm not even usually huge into it, but they do homemade pasta and their meatballs are to die for." Blaine continued to talk, ignoring Kurt on purpose until Kurt took the lead like he knew he would.

"Blaine!" Kurt practically shouted.

"You were saying?"

"Fine, I'll make the plan. I'm going to go get Quinn and we'll hop a jet into the city. You fly ahead and assess what's going on and let me know. Don't get involved until we're there. I can't have you getting hurt." Kurt tried to keep the vulnerability from his voice. Blaine heard it, but chose to just nod instead of calling attention to it.

"See you in the city, Cap."

Kurt took a long final look at Blaine as he moved about the room, getting his suit together again even though it was mostly falling apart. He turned and headed towards the room where Quinn was staying.

"Time to go." He announced in the doorway.

"Go where?" She asked in confusion.

"I'll tell you on the way. Can you fly one of those jets?" Kurt gestured towards the deck.

"I can." A man Kurt vaguely recognized from briefing videos stepped into the room. He turned to Quinn in surprise, raising his eyebrows questioningly. She nodded with a small smile that she tried to keep hidden.

"You got a suit?" Kurt looked back at Puck.

"Yeah."

"Then suit up."

Puck headed back out of the room to change and Kurt turned to Quinn.

"I hit his head really hard during the battle." She explained. "It fixed him."

"I'm happy for you." Kurt couldn't hold back the knowing grin that started to creep up on his face.

“Don’t forget to let yourself be happy, too.” She reminded him, lifting an eyebrow. He scrutinized her for a moment, wondering how much she had noticed. “He really is a good guy.”

Kurt gaped at her as Puck stepped back into the room, dressed and ready to go. He closed his mouth and turned to exit the room. Puck and Quinn followed him out to the deck and to one of the Quinjets.

"Hey, you guys aren't authorized to be in here!" A maintenance worker ran over in a panic.

"Son." Kurt turned back to him and took a deep breath. "Just don't."

* * *

Blaine tried to keep his suit flying as straight as possible, but it kept malfunctioning and the thrusters kept dropping in and out. He dialed Rachel in frustration as he flew.

"How did they manage to get the use of the arc reactor without us noticing?" He snapped as soon as he heard Rachel's voice.

"Hello to you too." Rachel huffed. "I've been in DC and then I flew back to LA for a meeting. It's nice to hear from you, too. I hope you're well." She answered sarcastically.

"Rach, this is ridiculous. There's no way he should've been able to do all this without setting off some sort of alarm. We need that fixed as soon as possible."

"So, how's the Captain?" The teasing tone of her voice made Blaine roll his eyes. "Every bit as dreamy as you imagined, I assume." When Blaine didn't respond, she added, "And by imagined, of course I mean 'imagined naked as you jacked off to those videos of him.'"

"Shut up."

"You love me."

"God only knows why." Blaine admitted tiredly.

"Have you gotten into his pants yet?"

"No. He apparently still has it in his mind that although he himself is an Atheist, since it's wrong in the Bible, no one will accept him and everyone will hate him. It's definitely not all one-sided, though. There's something there. I just have to get him to open up to me."

"It'll happen, Bee." She comforted, cooing slightly into the line.

"I can only hope." He paused quietly for a moment. "I'm almost at the tower. I'll call you after the inevitable battle."

"Stay safe and protect your man until I at least get the chance to meet him in person." She made a few obnoxious kissing noises before the line went dead.

"Sir, I've turned off the arc reactor. The device is already self-sustaining." Jarvis cut in as Blaine neared where Dr. Selvig was standing atop the tower.

"Shut it down, Dr. Selvig." Blaine called out.

"It's too late. She can't stop now. She wants to show us something, a new universe." His voice was slightly dazed as he argued with Blaine.

"Okay." Blaine rolled his eyes and shot a beam at the barrier, which shot it straight back.

"The barrier is pure energy. It's unbreachable." Jarvis pointed out.

"Yeah, I got that." Blaine answered sarcastically. He turned to see Loki standing on the walkway near his office. "Plan B."

"Sir, the Mark Seven is not ready for deployment yet."

"Then skip the spinning rims. We're on the clock." Blaine landed outside and let the machine strip himself of his suit.

"Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity." Loki snorted as he stepped inside as well. It took everything in Blaine not to punch his smirking face and pull on his ridiculous hair.

"Uh, actually I'm planning to threaten you."

"You should've left your armor on for that."

"Yeah, it's seen a bit of mileage and you've got the glow stick of destiny. Would you like a drink?" Blaine stepped behind the bar and held up a bottle.

"Stalling me won't change anything."

"No, no, no. Threatening. No drink, you sure? I'm having one." Blaine poured himself a glass of whatever was closest to him, not paying attention to what it was.

"The Chitauri are coming. Nothing will change that. What have I to fear?"

"The Avengers. It's what we call ourselves, sort of like a team. 'Earth's Mightiest Heroes' type thing." Blaine slid the two bracelets he kept hidden on the bar onto his wrists as he spoke.

"Yes, I've met them."

"Yeah, takes us a while to get any traction, I'll give you that one. But let's do a head count here: your brother, the demi-god; a super soldier, a living legend who kind of lives up to the legend;" Blaine paused to grin widely at the thought of Kurt, "a man with breath-taking anger management issues; a couple of master assassins, and you, big fella, you've managed to piss off every single one of them."

"That was the plan."

"Not a great plan. When they come, and they will, they'll come for you." Blaine stepped away from the bar and took a sip of the drink in his hand.

"I have an army." Loki shrugged.

"We have a Hulk."

"I thought the beast had wandered off."

"You're missing the point!" Blaine snapped exasperatedly. "There's no throne, there is no version of this where you come out on top. Maybe your army comes and maybe it's too much for us but it's all on you. Because if we can't protect the Earth, you can be damned well sure we'll avenge it!" Blaine growled in frustration.

"How will your friends have time for me, when they're so busy fighting you?" Loki raised his scepter and tapped it to Blaine's chest. They both watched it as nothing happened. "This usually works."

"Well, performance issues, you know. Not uncommon. One out of five." Blaine replied with a snarky tone. Loki grabbed Blaine and lifted him by the grip he had on his throat. "Jarvis, any time now."

"You will all fall before me." Loki warned before throwing Blaine through the window.

"Deploy. Deploy." Blaine fell rapidly towards the ground below the tower. Finally, he heard a loud whirring behind him as the suit scanned his bracelets and hooked onto them. Just before he hit the cement sidewalk, he hit his thrusters and shot back towards the tower. "And there's one other person you pissed off. His name is Phil."

He shot a beam at Loki and knocked him back to the ground. He wanted to cheer victoriously, but he heard a strange noise coming from the roof. He looked up just in time to see the portal open and creatures started pouring through it.

"Right, army." He sighed tiredly.

* * *

Blaine flew towards the portal, shooting anything in his path as he went. As he got close, he shot off as many missiles as he could to try and kill them off, but more continued to fly through the portal faster than he could possibly hope to stop.

He watched sadly as they started to take over the city. They began to land and the destruction they left in their wake was obvious.

"Stark, we're on your three, headed northeast." Quinn's voice crackled over the headset.

"What did you stop for drive through? Swing up Park. I'm gonna lay 'em out for you." Blaine snapped, frustrated at how long it took. He turned and led the army past the Quinjet, unable to hold back the smirk as they shot them down.

"Sir, we have more incoming." Jarvis interrupted his internal victory dance.

"Fine, let's keep 'em occupied." Blaine shot off away from the Quinjet.

Kurt watched Blaine fly away with a proud smile. He turned to see Quinn smirking at him, but just as she opened her mouth to say something, something rocked the jet. It quickly spiraled out of control until it slammed into the ground.

"Are you guys okay?" Blaine asked, concern in his voice.

"Yeah, we're okay." Kurt responded. "We've gotta get back up there."

"Be careful." Blaine warned as he continued to shoot things down.

"Stark, are you seeing this?" Kurt's voice was incredulous as he watched more Chitauri pour through the portal.

"Seeing. Still working on believing. Where's Banner? Has he shown up yet?"

"Banner?" Kurt was confused, thinking he heard Blaine wrong.

"Just keep me posted."

"We've got civilians trapped." Kurt looked around to survey the area just as someone whizzed by overhead. "Loki. They're fish in a barrel down there."

"We've got this. It's good. Go." Quinn encouraged Kurt, waving him off towards the civilians.

"Think you can hold them off?"

"Captain. It would be my genuine pleasure." Puck grinned at Kurt.

Kurt jumped down and landed near some officers who were arguing.

"You need men in these buildings. There are people inside and they're going to be running right into the line of fire. You take them to the basement or through the subway. You keep them off the streets. I need a perimeter as far back as 39th."

"Why the hell should I take orders from you?" One of the officers demanded just as two Chitauri landed next to Kurt. He took them out quickly and turned back to the officer.

"I need men in those buildings. Lead the people down and away from the streets. We're gonna set up a perimeter all the way down to 39th street." The officer barked into his communicator, causing Kurt to chuckle.

"Well, we got its attention. What the hell does that do?" Blaine's voice came over the headset, referring to the Leviathan that was causing havoc everywhere it went.

Cap jumped over to fight a few Chitauri with Quinn and Puck. Thor landed next to them moments later.

"What's the story upstairs?" Kurt asked Thor.

"The power surrounding the cube is impenetrable." Thor answered as he punched the nearest attacker.

"Thor's right. You've gotta deal with these guys." Blaine told them over the headset.

"How do we do this?" Quinn looked around.

"As a team." Kurt grinned.

"I have unfinished business with Loki." Thor pointed out with a small frown.

"Yeah? Get in line." Puck fixed an arrow in his bow.

"Save it." Kurt cut him off. "Loki's gonna keep this fight focused on us and that's what we need. Without that, these things could run wild. Now, we've got Stark up top-"

A rumbling cut off Kurt's words. They all looked over to see Artie pulling up on a motorized wheelchair that appeared to be stolen from a Wal-Mart.

"So, this all seems horrible." Artie snorted as he looked around.

"I've seen worse." Quinn commented dryly.

"I'm sorry." He immediately corrected himself.

"No, we could use a little worse." A small smile crossed Quinn's face.

"Stark? We got him." Kurt spoke happily into the headset.

"Banner?"

"Just like you said."

"See? Maybe you should trust me more often."

"Yeah." Kurt replied softly and everyone on the ground looked over at him.

"Tell him to suit up. I'm bringing the party to you." Blaine changed the topic, aware of the awkward pause. He led the Leviathan that was tailing him back towards the group.

"I-I don't see how that's a party." Quinn mumbled as she watched the Leviathan crash through several buildings.

"Doctor Banner, now might be a really good time for you to get angry." Kurt glanced over at Artie.

"That's my secret, Cap. I'm always angry." Artie transformed into The Hulk, shedding the wheelchair that he didn't need outside of his human form. He punched the Leviathan and it started to flip, armor breaking in the process.

Blaine shot several beams at the Leviathan, causing it to explode. Kurt immediately used his shield to protect Quinn and Puck, but kept his eyes trained on where Blaine was flying.

As soon as the dust settled, Blaine landed next to Kurt, pulling him into the arms of his Iron Man suit.

"Are you doing okay? Are you hurt?" Blaine took a half-step back to inspect the damage on Kurt. "You're staying safe, right?"

"Guys." Quinn interrupted and they both looked up just in time to see several waves of Chitauri enter the portal.

"Call it, Captain." Blaine squeezed Kurt's arm lightly before stepping back.

"Alright, listen up. Until we can close that portal up there, what we need is containment. Barton, I want you on that roof, eyes on everything. Call out patterns and strays. Stark, you've got the perimeter. Anything gets more than three blocks out, you turn it back or you turn it to ash." Kurt gave Blaine a hard look. "Stay safe, no matter what."

"Wanna give me a lift?" Puck asked with a step towards Blaine.

"Right. Better clench up, Legolas." Blaine grabbed onto Puck and shot up towards the roof of the nearest building.

"Thor, you've gotta try and bottleneck that portal, slow them down. You've got the lightning - light the bastards up." Kurt continued to give directions. "Quinn, you and me, we stay here on the ground, keep the fighting here. And Hulk, smash!"

Kurt and Quinn ran over to where there were several Chitauri trying to attack a building.

"Stark, you've got a lot of strays sniffing your tail." Puck's voice came over the headset and Kurt immediately panicked.

"Just trying to keep them off the streets." Blaine answered nonchalantly.

"Well, they can't bank worth a damn. Find a tight corner."

Kurt shook his head, knowing he had to tune out his concern for Blaine if he expected to get anywhere.

"Captain, none of this is gonna mean a damn thing if we don't close that portal." Quinn pointed out with a glare up at the portal.

"None of these guns can touch it."

"Well, maybe it's not about guns."

"If you wanna get up there, you're gonna need a ride." Noticing Quinn's stares up at the top of the tower, Kurt started to look around for some sort of transportation for her.

"I got a ride. I could use a boost though." Quinn gestured towards Kurt's shield.

"You sure about this?" Kurt was skeptical of her idea, but held his shield out for her to jump from anyways.

"Yeah. It's gonna be fun." She grinned before running forward and bouncing off the shield.

Kurt continued to fight off a few guys until Blaine landed next to him. He held his shield for Blaine to reflect a bolt off of to knock the last guy near them down.

"Are you doing okay, Blaine?" Kurt checked, concerned about the damaged state of Blaine's armor.

"I'm fine. Are you okay?" Blaine shook off Kurt's concern in favor of his own for Kurt.

"So long as you're safe, I'm okay." Kurt answered before turning to punch one of the advancing Chitauri.

In a blur, Kurt was being pinned to the ground. Blaine immediately shot at the one holding Kurt down, knocking them both away.

"Captain, the bank on 42nd past Madison. They cornered a lot of civilians in there." Puck's voice interrupted them.

"That's my call." Kurt took one last glance at Blaine before sprinting off for the bank that was a few blocks over.

Blaine looked up and decided to go after the Leviathan instead.

"Sir, we will lose power before we penetrate that shell." Jarvis pointed out wearily.

"Jarvis, did you ever hear the story of Jonah?" Blaine grinned, excited at his plan.

"Uh, I wouldn't consider him a role model."

Blaine ignored Jarvis in favor of shooting into the Leviathan's mouth, slowly blowing it up from the inside. He barely had a moment to celebrate before his headset was crackling.

"Stark, you hear me?" Fury's voice cut in. "You have a missile headed straight for the city."

"How long?" Blaine panicked, shocked and unsure of what to do at first. He was stunned that the government would call for a nuclear strike on Manhattan, but he didn't have time to dwell on it.

"Three minutes max. Its payload could wipe out midtown."

"Jarvis, put everything we've got into the thrusters." Blaine responded without second thought.

"I just did."

Blaine flew purposefully over by where Kurt and Thor were fighting, watching their interactions sadly for a moment.

"Ready for another bout?" Thor asked with a grin as he helped Kurt up.

"What? You getting sleepy?"

Blaine blinked back the tears in his eyes as he realized what he had to do to save Manhattan and to save Kurt. With one last long look, he took off in the direction of the missile.

He met it part way and grabbed onto it, directing it as much as possible towards the portal.

"I can close it. Can anybody copy? I can shut the portal down." Quinn's voice echoed through Blaine's headset, but he didn't even want to listen to it.

"Do it." Kurt directed without a second thought.

"No, wait." Blaine protested.

"Stark, these things are still coming." Kurt's voice had a hint of impatience to it.

"I've got a nuke coming in. It's gonna blow in less than a minute. I know just where to put it."

It took Kurt a moment to realize what Blaine meant, but as soon as it registered that Blaine intended to take it through the portal himself, he could feel himself start to fall apart.

"Blaine, you know that's a one way trip." Kurt said quietly, ignoring the battle going on around him.

"Save the rest for the turn, J." Blaine spoke to Jarvis, ignoring Kurt for the moment because he couldn't handle the thought of talking to him.

"Sir, shall I try Miss Berry? Or perhaps you'd prefer to just keep talking to Captain Rogers?" Jarvis asked knowingly.

"Blaine, you don't have to do this." Kurt pleaded, his voice cracking.

"Yes, I do. You and I both know that. I'm the only one that can do it."

"You could just fly as fast as possible away from here and save yourself."

"I'd rather save you, Kurt." Blaine admitted quietly just as he went through the portal. "I know it's ridiculous and you don't want to hear it and you haven’t known me that long, but I-"

The line went dead.

"NO!" Kurt shouted into the headset. "Blaine!" He stared desperately up at the portal, watching the bomb as it exploded on the other end. "Blaine, come back. You can't do this. BLAINE!" Kurt shouted at the portal in anger as the tears started to stream down his face.

"Cap." Quinn said softly as a reminder that if they didn't close the portal, the explosion would come back through the portal.

Kurt knew what he had to do, but his heart broke as he uttered two words.

"Close it."

As soon as the words left Kurt's lips, he collapsed to the ground.

Around him, everyone else was silent for a few moments before excited chatter started up, but Kurt tuned it out as sobs tore through his body. He couldn't believe Blaine was gone and he couldn't believe he'd let yet another person he cared about get hurt and get away. Flashes shot through his mind of the war, of crashing the plane, of watching Finn fall to his death from a train with no way to help him.

"He's not slowing down!" Kurt heard someone shout and he looked up, trying to assess what was going on through the tears that clouded his vision. It looked like something was falling rapidly from the sky and before Kurt could register what was going on, The Hulk was snatching the object from the air and turning so he could protect it from falling.

As soon as it clicked what was going on, Kurt was on his feet and racing towards the green mass collapsed on the ground a few hundred yards away. He fell to his knees right next to Blaine and tore his mask off, tossing it aside without care.

Kurt put his ear up to the metal to try and hear Blaine's heartbeat, but it was hopeless. The metal was too thick to hear anything through.

"No." Kurt shook his head and mumbled under his breath. "I didn't get you back just to lose you again!" He sat back on his heels with a hand still on Blaine's chest and the tears immediately started again. "Blaine, please. Please wake up."

Kurt was cut off by The Hulk shouting and growling angrily at Blaine. He jumped and felt movement under his hand as Blaine jolted awake.

"Oh, what the hell." Blaine shook his head slightly. "What just happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me." He paused before giving Kurt a fond smile. "Well, except for you. You can kiss me." He winked at Kurt and suddenly, he had his arms full of Kurt.

"You fucking asshole." Kurt snapped at Blaine before leaning down and finally pressing a kiss to Blaine's lips. It was chaste and only lasted a moment before Kurt pulled away. "We won."

"All right, hey!" Blaine cheered weakly. "All right, good job guys. Let's just not come in tomorrow. Let's just take a day. You ever tried shawarma? There's a shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I don't know what it is but I want to try it." Blaine rambled, the grin on his face growing as he stared at Kurt.

"We're not finished yet." Thor pointed out.

"And then shawarma after?" Blaine asked hopefully as Kurt extricated himself from Blaine's arms and stood. He held his hands out to Blaine and helped him to his feet. They started to walk away towards Stark Tower and Blaine slung an arm around Kurt's waist.

"You think you're being cute, but the fact that you're still, you know, covered in metal makes that actual painful rather than cute." Kurt pointed out with a nod towards Blaine's arm.

"Oh, right, sorry." Blaine dropped his arm and glanced between their bodies, wishing he could hold Kurt in some way. "After shawarma, you and I are talking."

"What is with you and shawarma?" Kurt chuckled nervously.

* * *

After confronting Loki, they all decided to change and meet back up in the park to say their goodbyes.

Thor elected to wait with Loki in Blaine's office while putting in a call to Mercedes Foster to explain the situation, let her know about Dr. Selvig's safety and just generally check in with her. Puck and Quinn ran over to Quinn's apartment uptown to change since Puck kept some clothes there and Artie chose to go with them since he'd left his bag with Quinn after she'd brought him back and they'd stopped en route to the Helicarrier, borrowing one of Blaine's cars for the drive.

"Sir, Miss Berry told me to let you know that she picked up some clothes to fit Captain Rogers and that they're on your bed." Jarvis informed Blaine with a bored tone.

"Wonderful." Blaine answered in a chipper tone.

"Who?" Kurt asked in confusion as he followed behind Blaine.

"Rachel. She's my best friend but also my assistant." Blaine explained. He led Kurt to his room, but Kurt stood nervously at the door. "You can come in, you know." Blaine picked up the bag and handed it to Kurt.

"Do you have somewhere I could change?" Kurt looked around, avoiding Blaine's eyes.

"Yeah, there's a bathroom right down the hall if you'd like." Blaine gestured down the hall and Kurt walked away.

* * *

On the drive over to the park, Blaine slipped his hand into Kurt's over the center console, but Kurt stayed silent and slid his body away subconsciously.

When they arrived, Kurt hurried out of the car and Blaine could see that he was deep in thought.

"As soon as you get back, we're going to shawarma, okay?" Blaine called out to Thor as he walked over. "I'm giving everyone a pass because I know you've got to get Loki back, but when you're back tomorrow, we're going."

"Okay." Thor nodded in agreement.

Kurt stayed silent while Thor said goodbye and left. As soon as he disappeared, everyone took turns hugging and saying goodbye. Quinn and Puck offered to take Artie and help him get set up with a place in the city and getting his stuff sorted out.

"Now we're finally alone." Blaine turned back to Kurt with a smile.

"Blaine, I can't." Kurt shook his head.

"What do you mean, you can't?" Shocked, Blaine took a step back.

"I can't do this." After a pause for a deep breath, Kurt continued. "I lose every person I get close to, Blaine. I can't- I can't come out and not have someone there to support me. I can't do it alone. But-" Kurt backed away slowly, putting distance between them as his voice trembled. "But most importantly, I can't lose you."

Blaine crossed the short distance between them and pulled Kurt into his arms.

"You won't lose me. What are you talking about, Kurt?"

"I'm sorry. I have to go." Kurt pushed himself from Blaine's arms and fled, leaving Blaine confused and heartbroken.

* * *

Blaine looked around, surveying the damage to his Stark Tower penthouse. Shattered glass littered the floor and almost everything was destroyed. He let out a small chuckle as he noticed every letter except the A had fallen off the side of the building, deciding to leave it that way as opposed to fixing it, loving the correlation between it and the Avengers.

Even the tiny bit of laughter felt strange to him after the past twenty-four hours. Ever since Kurt had walked away, leaving him heart-broken and alone in the park, he'd been lost in a strange mixture of sadness about Kurt and apathy towards anything else.

He'd fallen into bed as soon as he'd gotten back to his room from the park and sobbed until he was so exhausted that he couldn't help but pass out. When he'd jolted awake again the following morning, he felt numb to the world. Eventually, he pulled himself from bed, deciding to work on cleaning up to take his mind off of everything.

Just when he felt like he was holding himself together, Blaine caught sight of Kurt's shield. He'd left it propped against the wall when they'd gone to change.

Needing something to take the edge off, Blaine paused his work on cleaning to pour himself a glass of scotch from one of the few bottles that hadn't been smashed in the bar. Unfortunately, all of the glasses were broken, so he hopped up to sit atop the bar with his back to the door and took a swig directly from the bottle.

"Blaine?" A quiet voice came from the doorway.

"What do you want?" He snapped, not turning around. He didn't need to look up to see who was speaking.

"I wanted to see if you were okay, but I'm going to go ahead and assume that's a no." The clack of heels on the floor came closer and Blaine finally lifted his head.

"He said he couldn't and he left." He blinked back the tears in his eyes, trying and failing to hide them. "I love him, Rach, and he just left. He said he couldn't lose me, so he left. How does that fucking make sense?"

"Come here, baby." Rachel stopped right in front of Blaine and wrapped her arms around him. "It doesn’t always make sense. Did you tell him you love him?"

"Of course not. I'd just scare him off." Blaine choked out bitterly.

"Blaine, I'm not gonna lie. He probably sees you as someone who just wants him for sex." Rachel spoke slowly, trying to choose her words carefully. "If so, I could see where he's coming from. If he does care for you and he thinks you just want him for sex, I don't blame him for wanting to get out before he got hurt. You're a lot to lose, Blaine."

"I don't think that's what it is. I mean, sure, I hit on him at first like I do with everyone, but he and I talked and there's more going on in his head other than that when it comes to not just me, but him being gay in general."

"Blaine, you need to talk to him and tell him the truth and try to figure things out." Rachel took a step back and something caught her eye.

"He doesn't want anything to do with me and I'm not going to try and force him to talk to me. He made his choice and as hard as it is for me to swallow, I have to respect his decision. I'd love if he were willing to talk to me, if I had a chance to say all of the things I want to say to him, but it's not going to happen."

"What would you say if you had the chance?" Rachel pressed.

"Well, first I'd tell him how much he means to me, how much he inadvertently affected who I am today. My dads spoke so highly of him and his character and I always respected him so much. I'd tell him that he's actually the one who made me first realize I was gay, though I'd leave out the whole part where I jacked off to videos of him boxing."

Rachel interrupted his thoughts with a loud snort.

"I might tell him though that he was the reason I took up boxing, which ended up saving my life after that stupid Sadie Hawkins dance. I'd tell him that I understand his caution with being who he was and remind him that I've heard plenty of stories from my dad about how it was back then and that I'm willing to work through it with him. I'd- I'd tell him that I love him, just like I wanted to when I went through that portal. I'd beg and plead with him to just give me a chance, and if by that point he hadn't run off scared, I'd ask him what the hell he's so scared of when he talks about losing me and why he thinks I wouldn't be there for him."

"I'm scared that I'll lose you because I've lost everyone else in my life." Blaine whipped his head around at the sound of Kurt's voice. "I'm a complete mess and if I were you, I'd be running for the hills right about now. I have all these expectations placed on me and everyone around me seems to get hurt. I lost my friendship with Santana and your father to my constant need to be the hero. I lost Finn because I was foolish enough to put him in a bad situation. Now, I lost Phil and I'm going to lose you too."

"Kurt, you won't lose me. Why do you think that?" Blaine slid off the counter and took a few steps towards Kurt.

"Even if you don't leave like I think you will, who knows what will happen? Someone could take you away from me. The next bad guy we come across, some random thug, another boy, the possibilities are endless."

"First of all, there are no other boys in the world to me. I may have this whole playboy reputation, but it's just a façade because I never let anyone get close to me. I'd let you get close to me, though. I already have. Second, you can't be worried about other people and what might happen. I can't lie, I will do anything in my power to protect you, no matter what the cost is, whether we come out of this together or not, but if keeping myself safe is what you want, I'll hang up the Iron Man suit for good and the only person I'll protect is you."

"Blaine." Kurt crossed his arms across his chest, holding tightly to himself as he felt himself weaken.

"I don't know about you, but I'd rather spend every moment I can with you than give you up simply out of the fear of losing you down the road." Blaine walked the last few steps until he was almost touching Kurt. "Please, Kurt, I love you. I know, I know, it seems like it hasn't been long enough, but with everything that's happened the past few days, I'm not afraid to admit it. I love you so much."

"I love you, too." Kurt admitted quietly. Blaine's heart swelled but he couldn't help bracing himself for the letdown.

"Don't say that." Blaine shook his head. "Don't say it unless you truly mean it. Don't say it unless you're going to stay."

"I love you." Kurt repeated. "I'm terrified and I'm nervous and I don't think this is necessarily the best idea, but none of that stuff matters when I step back and look at it. I've felt this incredibly strong pull towards you from the first minute I met you, but I couldn't figure it out. When I thought I'd lost you to that portal yesterday, it hit me." Wrapping his arms around Blaine's neck, Kurt let his forehead rest against Blaine's. "I love you."

Blaine surged forward, kissing Kurt with every bit of passion his exhausted body could manage. Neither one noticed Rachel slipping out with a smirk, but she waited at the door and listened in until she heard Kurt speak again, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Take me to your room. Make me yours."

Blaine jolted back in surprise at Kurt's words, but Kurt had a determined look on his face.

"Are you sure?" Blaine stumbled over his words nervously.

"Of course I'm sure."

Blaine reluctantly pulled away from the warm heat of Kurt's body pressed against his own, only managing to do so because of the promise of what was to come. He held Kurt's hand in a firm grip, slightly worried that it was all an illusion or that if he let go, Kurt would disappear again.

Inside his room, Blaine shut the door and was immediately pressed against it by Kurt. Nimble fingers unbuttoned his shirt and before he even registered what Kurt was doing, Kurt was pushing the shirt from his shoulders, pausing for a moment to run his fingers over the glowing circle of light on Blaine's chest.

After returning the favor of shirt removal, their mouths met once more while their unclothed chests slid together. The press of the cool metal against Kurt's flushed skin provided a strange reminder that this was real, not just a dream. It wasn't enough for Kurt, who dropped his hands to Blaine's pants to work on the buckle there.

"Should we talk about this first?" Blaine asked, trying to keep up some semblance of composure while Kurt stripped him.

"What on Earth could be so important that we need to talk about it right at this moment?" Kurt groaned. Blaine's mind blanked for a moment as he tried to remember what he should ask just as Kurt tugged his jeans down, leaving his boxer-briefs in place.

"Have you ever done this before?" Blaine managed to get out as he watched Kurt pull his own jeans off.

"With another boy? No." Kurt shook his head.

"With another girl?" Blaine lifted an eyebrow teasingly.

"Well, no, not that either." Kurt rolled his eyes.

"In that case, what exactly are you comfortable doing?" Blaine tried to be responsible and ask, but just then, Kurt moved close to him again and their clothed cocks met in perfect friction for just a fraction of a second.

"Considering my age, I think it's getting ridiculous that I'm still a virgin, don't you?" Kurt smirked with another playful thrust.

"Okay. A - There's no age by which you can't be a virgin anymore and you can't count those years of being frozen against you anyways, and B – when did you turn into such a sexy little flirt?"

"You're right. I was just teasing." Kurt agreed. "And I definitely don't think I'm little."

"Let's find out, shall we?" Blaine dropped to his knees.

"I was referring to the muscles, just to clarify. I'm not that much of an arrogant ass that I- oh my god." Kurt bucked his hips forwards as Blaine closed his lips over the outline of his cock.

"Definitely not little. Did the formula increase the size of this too? Because damn." Blaine's voice came out reverently.

"No, it's pretty much always been that size." A slight blush crept up over Kurt's cheeks.

"I can't wait to get this inside of me." Blaine's thumbs hooked into the waistband and he lowered Kurt's underwear as he spoke. He licked a slow stripe from base to tip before taking it as far as he could. It'd been far too long since he'd done this so he couldn't take Kurt as far as he wanted, but he couldn't bring himself to be upset because all he wanted was to erase all of the other guys that had come before Kurt because they no longer mattered.

"Who says you're bottoming first?" Kurt tried to sound authoritative but it was hard with Blaine's mouth creating a perfect suction over his cock.

"Oh, I just assumed you'd want-" Blaine trailed off as he pulled off of Kurt.

"If it's okay with you, I want to." Kurt's voice came out a little nervous. "If you only ever, you know, we can do that, that's fine. Forget I said anything, oh my god." Kurt shook his head quickly and Blaine let out a small chuckle at the way Kurt's cock bobbed from how hard Kurt was shaking his head and the way it moved his whole body.

"I'm fine switching. I enjoy both. We'll have to find what you like best or we can just switch all the time. For now, I'm more than happy topping, so long as it's with you and it’s what you want." Blaine stood up and slowly led Kurt over to the bed, stripping off his own underwear as they moved.

Kurt moved so he was on his back on the bed while Blaine grabbed lube and a condom from his nightstand. He watched hungrily as Blaine's hard cock shifted as he moved onto the bed.

"Hmm, I see the suit definitely isn't compensating for anything like I wondered if it was." Kurt grinned, taking in Blaine's size and causing Blaine to turn slightly pink.

"Have you ever done this to yourself?" Blaine asked. Kurt nodded nervously as he bit his lip. Sensing what Kurt was nervous about, Blaine reached out to slowly stroke Kurt's leg. "Kurt, I'm not judging you so stop worrying that I am. This is between you and me and nobody else. Would it make you feel better to know that I've done it to myself while thinking about you?"

"No. That just makes me feel bad that I've never done the same. I always imagined-"

"Nope." Blaine cut him off. "I swear to god, if you finish that sentence with 'your father,' I will go in the bathroom and leave you here, hard and wanting."

"Oh my god, Blaine. Of course I wasn't going to say that!" Kurt shouted indignantly. "I was going to say that I imagined someone who didn't exist, that I made up because I felt too guilty to think about anyone in particular."

Blaine cut off Kurt's rant by stroking a lubed finger over Kurt's hole, causing him to stop speaking and gasp instead. He slowly inched one finger inside, reveling in how tight Kurt felt. He couldn't believe he this was actually happening, that Kurt loved him and was allowing him to be so intimate.

He took his time slowly stretching Kurt, making sure he could avoid as much pain as possible. Kurt took it incredibly well, opening up well for Blaine while staying perfectly just this side of too tight around his finger.

"Please, Blaine. I need you." Kurt reached out to stroke over Blaine's cock a few times, awestruck at the strange feel of another man in his hand that way.

"Okay." Blaine's voice was slightly strangled as he freed his fingers and grabbed the condom from where he'd set it on the bed.

"I'm not a girl, you know." Kurt said in confusion. "You can't get me pregnant."

"I know that." Blaine answered slowly. "Believe me, I definitely know that."

"So, why are you-?" Kurt gestured to the condom. Blaine looked at him in confusion for a few moments before it registered.

"Okay, so you've missed a lot while being a Capsicle. One of those things is this terrible disease called AIDS. This," Blaine held up the condom, "is to help prevent that."

"You have it?" Kurt panicked. "How horrible is it? What exactly does it do? Are you going to die? How long do you have? Oh my god, I knew I was going to lose you-"

Blaine cut off Kurt's panic with a kiss.

"No, love, I don't have it." Blaine soothed him.

"Then why are you using it?" Kurt tilted his head slightly in confusion. "I don't have it."

"It's just a precaution to protect against any sort of STDs." Blaine explained.

"If you don't have any and I don't have any, I don't see why we can't go without it."

"I don't want you to get in the habit of not using one. You never know with people."

"I'm not going to sleep with anyone else." Kurt shot back. "Please? I just want to feel you."

"But-" Blaine protested weakly.

"Do you have anything I should be worried about?" Kurt asked, speaking slowly.

"No. I haven't been with anyone in a long time and I got tested recently." Kurt continued to stare at Blaine until Blaine gave in. "Just promise me you'll be honest with me. If you do find someone else, I'll be hurt, but it'll hurt worse if you keep it from me because this can be really dangerous."

"I promise."

Blaine set the condom aside and slicked himself up.

"Are you sure?" He double-checked with Kurt.

"Of course I'm sure."

Blaine pressed his hips forward, lining himself up with Kurt's stretched hole and slowly pushing in. He paused every few seconds to make sure Kurt was okay until finally, he was buried inside Kurt.

The realization of the situation hit Blaine like a ton of bricks the first time Kurt clenched around him with a content moan. Kurt was here, in his bed, in his arms, tight around him in the most intimate way possible.

"I love you." Blaine breathed across Kurt's lips before crashing them together.

For several long minutes, Blaine didn't move. Instead, he stayed sheathed inside Kurt as deep as possible, fighting the tears of joy in his eyes.

"Blaine, please, I need you to move." Kurt shifted his hips slightly under Blaine.

It took a few minutes, but they eventually found a comfortable rhythm. Kurt's hands stayed glued to Blaine's hips, but Blaine couldn't stop his own from wandering. They tangled in Kurt's hair, scooted beneath them to grab Kurt's ass, caressed Kurt's legs, stroked down Kurt's chest and occasionally caught on Kurt's nipples.

For the first time in his life, Blaine found himself having sex not with the usual intent to get off, but instead to simply connect with the person he loved on a whole new level. Because of that, his orgasm caught him completely by surprise. He was lost in a haze and nibbling Kurt's neck, so it took him far too long to realize that the reason he was so close was because Kurt had tightened up around him. The sight of Kurt as he fell into complete ecstasy was what did it for Blaine and they both shook with the force of their orgasms.

Blaine moved to pull out, but Kurt whined and pressed his heels to Blaine's ass to stop him. They stayed connected for a few more minutes until Blaine had softened and slipped out. He rolled onto his side and moved Kurt so they were still face to face.

"You know, I never did get you to admit out loud to being gay." Blaine joked as he brushed a stray hair from Kurt's face.

"I just let my boyfriend fuck my ass. Doesn't that count?" Kurt snorted.

"Nope." Blaine popped the 'p' happily.

"Yes, Blaine. I am gay. One hundred percent gay. I am incredibly turned on by cocks, particularly yours, and boobs do absolutely nothing for me. Better?"

Blaine nodded and silence stretched between them again for a while.

"So, boyfriend?" Blaine commented, the word sticking out in his mind ever since Kurt said it.

"Yes, boyfriend." Kurt answered as though it were obvious.

"Lover?"

"Lover." Kurt nodded in confirmation.

"New roommate?"

"New roommate." Kurt chuckled.

"Partner?"

"Partner."

"Love of your life?"

"Love of my life." Kurt rolled his eyes as Blaine’s grin got larger with every answer.

"Fiancé?" Blaine pressed his luck.

"Woah, hold your horses there, Stark. We've been together for less than an hour and you don't even have a ring." Kurt giggled with an eye roll.

"And if I did?" Blaine couldn't help but ask. He’d wanted long enough; he’d gladly lock that down if given the chance.

"I could use some coffee right now." Kurt changed the subject with a fond smile at Blaine. It wasn't an answer, but it was good enough for Blaine that Kurt didn't run screaming at the idea. Besides, Blaine was pretty sure he knew the answer without Kurt saying it.

"There's a cute little coffee shop around the corner, if you want."

"I'm scared to go out there." Kurt admitted vulnerably. "I'm scared of the people."

"If you don't want to go public right now, we don't have to. I will wait as long as it takes for you to be ready." Blaine squeezed Kurt's hand. "But whenever you decide you're ready, I will be right there next to you, holding your hand every step of the way."

"No, I don't want to hide you away. I'm proud to be with you. You're an amazing and wonderful man and I can't wait to point at you and tell people we're together. When we walk through the doors of this building, I'm going to hold your hand and kiss you in the middle of the sidewalk and punch anyone who dares judge us."

"Well, I have plans to meet up with everyone for shawarmas. Want to join us?"

 

**Author's Note:**

> Kurt - Captain America/Steve Rogers  
> Blaine - Iron Man/Tony Stark  
> Sam - Thor  
> Artie - The Hulk/Bruce Banner  
> Quinn - Black Widow/Natasha Romanov  
> Puck - Hawkeye/Clint Barton  
> Rachel - Pepper Potts  
> Finn - Bucky  
> Warbler Nick - Howard Stark  
> Mercedes - Jane Foster  
> Santana - Peggy Carter
> 
> Loki, Nick Fury, Agent Hill, and Agent Coulson all play themselves.


End file.
